* Astronomy

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RE: South African Space Agency

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South Africa launches its space agency, strategy

The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) and the National Space Strategy were formally launched on Thursday by Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.
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South African National Space Agency

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RE: South African Space Agency

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DST looks to space
South Africa aims to become a regional centre for space technology, investing in satellite and telescope projects to support its economy, says science and technology minister Naledi Pandor.

"When a country engages in a programme as significant globally as space science, there are many areas in which the economy is boosted. First, in terms of the products, such as building satellites you may want to establish a launching pad; that in itself is a major infrastructural investment" - Naledi Pandor.

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Dr Peter Martinez is the co-ordinator of the national working group on space science and technology, established to meld the various departments and bodies that will fall under the agency, and he recently returned from the International Astronautical Conference in Glasgow, where South Africa tendered a bid to host the 2011 conference - and won. It will be the first to be held in Africa and, with the imminent launch of the agency, he says "there was a realisation that this is a milestone epoch in South African space".

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South Africa's new space agency is set to be officially launched in early 2009.

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The South African Cabinet has approved the establishment of South Africa's first space agency to act as an institutional vehicle for the coordination and implementation of national space science and technology programmes.

Government Communications (GCIS) said in a statement on Friday that the South African space agency, which would report directly to Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena, would conduct long-term planning and implementation of space-related activities in South Africa. Its activities would be coordinated closely with the South African Council for Space Affairs and other stakeholders

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The South African government has approved the establishment of the South African Space Agency.

The agency would be an institutional vehicle for the coordination and implementation of South Africa's national space science and technology programs.

"The agency will conduct long-term planning and implementation of space-related activities in South Africa for the benefit of all citizens" - Government statement.

It would coordinate its activities closely with the South African Council for Space Affairs and stakeholders, and would report to the Minister of Science and Technology.
South Africa's remarkable progress over the past decade in the fields of space science and astronomy is set to generate billions of rands in foreign investment. Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena said in May that the country was poised to take the lead in African space and astronomy programs through the establishment of a South African Space Agency.

"We are establishing (this) to unite the work of several institutions and harness these capacities to leverage billions of rands through which we hope to boost the economy and create more jobs" - Mosibudi Mangena.

According to the an earlier report, South Africa's second satellite would be launched this year. The project will expand South African satellite-engineering capabilities in a bid to develop a cluster of satellites.
The cluster would be know as the African Resource Management Constellation.
The vision is to develop and build in Africa satellites that can assist in disaster prediction and mitigation, projection of crop yields, and a host of other applications. Other industrial applications are likely to spin off from this process.
South Africa had also signed bilateral agreements with the Russian Space Agency, which has expressed an interest in launching satellites from South Africa.
It had also signed partnership and cooperation agreements with the European Space Agency and Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the United States.

Source Xinhua